


child supporting trials

by Kugawing



Series: the vessels of the colosseum [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), Ghost is a Pure Vessel, Post-Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), and the colosseum, and the void, grimmchild is a teenager. let them say fuck, liberties taken with how the troupe works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27007690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kugawing/pseuds/Kugawing
Summary: [After devouring the Old Light, the Ghost of Hallownest takes over as the new champion of the Colosseum of Fools.]Ghost likes to think they're a good parent, even if they're hollow and flying solo in parenthood and their only experience is their father figure throwing his children into the Abyss. The Grimmchild wants child support, and Ghost really would prefer to not get fired today.
Series: the vessels of the colosseum [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960942
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	child supporting trials

Stabbed a corpse, lit a fire with a nail of dreams, and walked into a tent that appeared out of thin air. Those were the actions that had led to a child being placed in their care. Supposedly this was not the normal method of child acquisition. Ghost wasn’t capable of expecting much other than battle patterns, but a child? The void within had bubbled, the void within had been confused more than reluctant.

A ritual was placed in their grasp to control, one that they were only _slightly_ being forced to fulfil. It had been an order to search for the kin, and their hollow mind could not object. It had been an order to perform a dance of fire with the troupe’s leader. It had been an order to seek out the remaining kin.

It had not been an order to enter the realm of nightmares, but it had been done nonetheless.

Now the Grimmchild had grown, and continued to grow after Grimm’s sudden disappearance after their second dance of combat. Without a word or a whisper, Ghost was left with the child and no further guidance given. With the last of the scarlet essence flames devoured, the Grimmchild was finally able to feast on the food of normal bugs. Legs were new to them. Ghost had spent many hours teaching the child to walk. Difficult with no voice.

Speech came far easier to the Grimmchild. The instant that their mouth had developed teeth to push their tongue against, the blathering had begun. It grew and grew until they had been able to speak. The Grimmchild was able to speak near full sentences before they were able to properly walk. With speech came desires, something that was beyond Ghost’s comprehension. 

Teaching to walk had been easy for them to do for they walked with ease. Teaching to speak had been rough and mostly fell onto their siblings (Kin had been absolutely ecstatic when their name had been said the first time). Dealing with the Grimmchild’s wants that were not food, that were not shelter, that were not the bare essentials? They struggled. They knew it. Ghost could do little to help it.

“I heard that there was a lot of geo left behind after the last trial,” the Grimmchild commented as they swooped over to their silent parent. Ghost’s shell raised from where they were gently polishing their pure nail clean from the blood of fools. No longer was it orange. No longer were their opponents mindlessly driven by the infection. Was it better, to be killing for sport when they weren’t freeing other’s from the infection’s burden, or worse? It wasn’t for them to decide.

Without a voice, the Grimmchild could take the other’s pivoted head as attention being gathered. “I’ve been thinking. There’s so much geo left over after people win the trials, you know? I kinda wanna see if I can convince Little Fool to let me take whatever they leave behind.”

Gently Ghost sets their nail down on the bench, and tucks the cloth back into their cloak. They reach out to try and figure out where Kin is, and if- ‘ _Yea, I’m free, I’ll be over in a few moments_.’ The telepathy would have surprised Ghost if they had a mind to be surprised with. They wave a hand to usher the Grimmchild to continue, and with a delightful ‘nyark’ they did so. “I heard one of those sturdy fools talk about this thing called ‘child support’. I’m thinking that collecting the left behind rewards would count as-”

The creature of scarlet flames is cut off as Kin slid down from the ladder above, landing heavily. Briefly Kin glanced towards the nearby hot spring, before then moving over to the bench where Ghost and Grimmchild were convened. “Child support? Never heard of that before. I bet the Pale King never did any child support.” Ghost can feel the anger that bubbled within the other’s shell. They cannot feel it, but they can at least attach a name to the odd feeling.

“Fuck the Pale King,” the Grimmchild hissed with a sputter of flame following their words. Red eyes squint in anger for a few moments, before they smooth their cloak and wings before continuing. “Anyways, hey Kin. I’m telling Ghost about how I’m gonna get my child support by taking all the geo left behind in the trials. I think it’d be pretty fair.” They pause to grit their teeth. "Basically, from what I understand, child support is when the deadbeat dad pays money to the parent actually taking care of the child so that they can do what they want. Grimm's the deadbeat dad because one, he's male, and two, I haven't seen him in months and three, he isn't even paying it because I haven't seen him in ages!"

Kin scratched the bottom of their shell with one of their hands. A slow nod, their head remaining awkwardly tipped as always before it jerked upright in typical Kin fashion. “Never met your dad, but he sounds super deadbeat if you haven't seen him in a few months." A pause as the vessel turned over the words that came before the nightmare child's on point description. "That’d be awesome. You could buy all the butter you want with that much money.” Ghost decided to push their newly developed inquiry over to Kin, allowing for their fellow vessel to formulate it into an actual comprehensible question. “Ghost wants to know how’re you gonna get Little Fool to agree.”

An excited gleam had come to the nightmare creature’s gaze at the comment of butter. Ghost need not a mind to recall the memories of the Grimmchild’s scarlet fire blasting from their mouth during a heated cooking session. A passion for cooking had been unexpected, but Ghost would not complain on both fronts of not being able to speak and not finding the hobby of cooking to be harmful. “Oh. I haven’t thought about that. What if I tie him up?”

Gurgled laughter came from the taller vessel, their head wobbling from side to side. “No, I don’t think that’d work. Probably make him even less likely to agree. Hm. I’d say we could ask Hornet, but sister is incredibly busy.

“Hornet’s a kill joy anyways,” the Grimmchild grumbled, and to that Kin nodded their head. Ghost turned their shell back to their nail, deciding to pluck it from where it rested and check it over for any remaining blemishes from the last trial. “Ghost? Any ideas? Maybe I could beat him in a spar and _that’d_ make him let me take all the left behind earnings. It’s for child support.” The scarlet creature’s head raised with pride, spitting a small fireball as if to prove their point of high battle prowess. A reminder it was to Ghost that teaching the other to fight needed to be done.

They say nothing as always because they are hollow and cannot speak, but push forth to Kin nonetheless. “They say you should offer to help Little Fool run the trials, take some of the workload off of him so that you’re kind of earning your pay. Fairness. Dang, that’s a good idea. Wish I came up with that.” Ghost pushes forth that they can’t really come up with ideas because they have no mind, and Kin’s internal response is the rolling of their metaphorical eyes.

The Grimmchild stuck out their tongue, a raspberry following suit. “Yea, but that’s _work_ , I don’t wanna have to work for my child support.” They shuffle around in their cloak, rustling and moving their wings and arms. Grumbling accompanies the nightmare creature as they stalk away, leaving the two vessels alone.

‘ _I bet ten geo their conversation with the Little Fool is going to end with large scale arson,_ ’ Kin mused as they came to sit on the bench next to their smaller sibling. Ghost assured them quickly that the closest area was the City of Tears which just so happened to have its own fire extinguishing system. ‘ _The Resting Grounds is nearby too. What about Seer?_ ’ They reply swiftly with their own rebuttal that the spirit named Revek would likely not stand for Grimmchild’s antics. 

Their siblings rolled their shell around, the long prongs keeping the movement somewhat shaky and off balance. ‘ _Alright, so if it’s not large scale arson, what’s it gonna be?_ ’ They inquire, their shell turning to glance at the nail that Ghost held. ‘ _Maybe if you ask Little Fool for your own earnings in the trial, you could give it to the Grimmchild?_ ’ Ghost swiftly answered with the fact that they already were practically doing such a thing, and they free one hand from their nail to extract a tiny bag of geo from their cloak, jingle it, and tuck such away again.

Carefully Ghost peels off a slight scrap of exoskeleton from their nail, which had hidden itself within one of the grooves. The nail was the finest weapon in Hallownest, but all the grooves to allow blood to flow made it quite a pain to clean. ‘ _Right. Well. I’m gonna go grab dinner. Let me know how things go with the Grimmchild’s ‘child support’ shenanigans. Do you have anything in particular you’d like to eat?_ ’

They did not, in fact, and Kin clambered back up the ladder and left. Ghost was alone once again on their bench, and they did not mind. They finished cleaning their nail finally, and their shell tipped back against the bench. For a moment they take the time to reach out and check on the void, to make sure that it was still resting comfortably within the lake and air of the Abyss. With that matter easily settled, they turned to the charms that they currently had clipped to the inside of their cloak. Nothing to change currently, and so they lean against the bench and allow themself to slip under into slumber.

They do not dream. Their mind is already blank, of course, and so sleep is an easy way to pass the time. However, being roughly shaken jostled them easily from their slumber. Their hand flew to grip their nail, and they had already begun to swing and have to hastily stop the motion when they recognize the Grimmchild’s scarlet eyes. If they had a voice, they would scold the nightmare child for waking them up in such a rough way.

The other’s cloak parted, and a silvery piece of geo is dropped on to the floor. Not planned, clearly, and the Grimmchild hastily plucks it up. “We came to an agreement,” they say as Ghost slid from the bench. “I help out a bit, I get a bit of pay. Which sucks, but I think the business experience would be pretty cool.” 

A nod of Ghost’s shell agreed with their child. They began to move for the exit, gesturing for the other to follow them to dinner. Hopefully Kin had managed to cook something nice, even if that would be for the Grimmchild to decide. They clamber up the ladder whereas the Grimmchild easily flies upward, and before they leave they find hesitation, staring at the metal door that led to the arena floor.

Crystals appear around their feet and they blast off towards the elevator shaft, and the Grimmchild trills at the unspoken challenge of speed, and swiftly flew after. 


End file.
